South Korea’s National Pension Service has bagged more domestic chemical stocks over the course of three months, filings showed Thursday. The world’s third-largest public pension fund increased its exposure to chemical stocks dedicated to second-life electric vehicle batteries -- such as LG Chem, Posco Chemical and Korea Petrochemical Ind. -- from April until Tuesday, according to respective disclosures. LG Chem has been vying to be the world’s top passenger vehicle cell s

Debt-ridden Doosan Group’s holding firm said Wednesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with local private equity firm SkyLake Investment to sell a majority stake in its battery foil maker unit. “Doosan Corp. has signed an MOU with SkyLake Investment with regards to the sale of Doosan Solus,” the construction-to-energy conglomerate said in a filing. “The company will immediately disclose the details of the stake transaction once the terms are finalized.”

A series of listings of Korean real estate investment trusts -- including ones that involve investments in foreign properties -- are adding vigor to the upbeat initial public offering scene in the local stock market. This comes as investment houses here are moving to attract stable cash streams by luring investors to their own vehicles used to buy properties at home and abroad. In the latest move, JR Asset Management on Wednesday released a prospectus for its REIT ahead of the flotation plan

South Korea’s cash-strapped flag carrier Korean Air Lines said Tuesday it plans to sell its inflight meal catering and duty-free units to local private equity firm Hahn & Co. “As for the divestment of inflight catering services and duty-free operations, Korean Air has given Hahn & Co. the exclusive rights to negotiate,” it said in a disclosure after a board meeting at 4 p.m. “Korean Air will continue to discuss the details about the transaction with Hahn &

In his first public letter in 10 years, South Korea’s value investment guru Chen Kang in March urged fund investors to remain unperturbed by the coronavirus uncertainties and search for where purchasing power would flock to in the post-coronavirus era. The investor with over 30 years of experience in stock investing added this was a way of targeting value creation even in trying times. “Investors should keep an eye on how daily life evolves, because that’s where the future of

Gen2 Partners, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund, has notified South Korean financial institutions of a fund freeze regardless of the deadlines for fund redemption, according to news reports Sunday. This comes as its flagship fund using a leveraged scheme suffered losses due to the coronavirus outbreak, facing a liquidity crunch. The Korean entities dedicated to pooling investor money for Gen2 Partners’ multistrategy funds include brokerage houses Shinhan Investment, Kiwoom Securities and S

The Financial Services Commission, South Korea‘s top financial regulator, said Thursday it would carry out an all-out inspection of all privately-pooled investment schemes in a preemptive measure to protect financial consumers from exposure to unanticipated risks. The target of the scrutiny will be 10,304 pooled funds and 233 investment houses dedicated to privately pooled funds as of the end of May. The total inspection is scheduled to be completed by September, while investment firms w

South Korea’s financial watchdog Financial Supervisory Service on Wednesday urged 10 financial institutions to fully compensate for investors’ losses, holding them accountable for their inadvertent decision to draw investments in the disgraced Lime Asset Management’s trade finance fund. In an unprecedented move, financial institutions -- including seven banks and three brokerage houses -- will be forced to reimburse a total of 161.1 billion won ($133.8 million) in principal of

Korean private equity firm JC Partners has become a preferred bidder to buy a controlling stake in KDB Life Insurance, in policy lender Korea Development Bank’s move to exit from a troubled financial institution that has strived to turn around amid restructuring. JC Partners was the sole participant in the open bidding process to sell KDB Life Insurance, whose 92.73 percent stake is jointly controlled by KDB and investment house Consus Private Equity, according to KDB on Wednesday. The bi

Amid the lingering business uncertainties from continued COVID-19 crisis, bond investors would be able to avert risks of companies’ default in case they have invested in secured high-yield bonds, a top Barings Asset Management official said on Tuesday. “(Secured bonds) are on top of the capital structure and tend to recover better,” said David Mihalick, head of US public fixed income at Barings, in a teleconference. “Secured bonds are attractive because of the extent th

South Korea’s National Pension Service said Tuesday it has selected five private equity firms as external partners to invest a combined 800 billion won ($665.28 million) in private equities. According to the world’s third-largest public pension fund, it will commit 160 billion won each to Glenwood Private Equity, Macquarie Asset Management Korea, SkyLake Investment, IMM Investment and JKL Partners. The firms will be responsible for managing funds with a 10-year maturity. Investmen

South Korea’s largest institutional investor National Pension Service said Monday it has inked a partnership with Germany-based Allianz to co-invest in core real estate assets worth $2.3 billion across the Asia-Pacific region as part of its alternative investment strategy. The 50:50 fund will target properties in countries such as China, Japan, Australia and Singapore, betting on core opportunities in landmark office buildings, logistics facilities and residential complexes -- or assets c

Deregulatory moves by financial authorities to allow South Korean conglomerates to own corporate venture capital firms have raised concerns over the manifold consequences of such a scheme. The Finance Ministry is set to unveil plans next month to revise the law so that Korean equivalents of Alphabet-backed GV -- formerly known as Google Ventures -- can be launched. The revision of the Fair Trade Act is expected to make significant changes in the history of corporate environment that has banned

What surprised John Lee, a former Wall Street fund manager who returned home six years ago, was the widespread perception among South Korean retail investors that real estate is a much safer option for investments than stocks, which they considered too risky. Six years on, things have changed, particularly in recent months with a massive inflow of retail investors to the local stock market, said Lee, now CEO of Seoul-based Meritz Asset Management. “They have learned lessons,” he sai

South Korea’s investment house Optimus Asset Management froze two more feeder funds worth a combined 29.7 billion won ($24.75 million) Wednesday, as prosecutors started to look into fraud allegations against the troubled asset manager. At the same time, Korea’s top financial regulator vowed to carry out a thorough inspection of all privately pooled funds here in a preemptive move to protect fund investors. Optimus on Wednesday notified NH Investment & Securities that the fund

Celltrion co-founder and Chairman Seo Jung-jin said Tuesday the biosimilar firm’s novel coronavirus vaccine development is on its way as scheduled, expressing confidence that the treatment will become marketable once clinical trials are complete. As one of some 200 drug developers in the world in the race to develop a treatment for COVID-19, Celltrion is poised to go through a human clinical trial with its drug candidate on July 16, following tests on lab animals such as hamsters and monk

Swedish public pension fund AP7 has added SK Holdings, a South Korean company at the apex of SK conglomerate’s governance structure, to its blacklist of companies to be excluded from its investment universe, its recent report showed Monday. SK Holdings was one of three firms added in the latest move, along with Canadian cannabinoid firm Cronos Group and Egyptian electrical company Elsewedy Electric, according to the blacklist updated as of June 15. According to the report by the institu

BlackRock Investment Management Korea said in a filing Sunday its incumbent CEO Choi Man-yeon is set to extend his term by two years, starting June 27. Choi has headed the Korean arm of the world’s largest asset management firm since 2014. His three-year term at the top post was renewed in 2017. Choi formerly headed sales at Schroder Investment Management’s Korean unit. The filing also showed that, along with Choi, his colleague Graham Turl will serve his term until 2023 as

South Korea’s Optimus Asset Management is being probed by financial authorities over allegations that it had breached contracts with fund investors in its portfolio construction. Investors in the privately placed funds appear to be wary of what could trigger another financial fiasco following ones surrounding disgraced fund management firms including Lime Asset Management. The Financial Supervisory Service on Friday launched an investigation on the Seoul-based investment house to examin

Since its inception in 2015, robo-investing has emerged as a tool with the potential to minimize the impact of market volatility in South Korea. The profitability of this investment method -- based on computerized data analysis, not human instinct -- has been questioned. But the time has come, unexpectedly, to prove who is correct. The catalyst is the coronavirus outbreak that has been rattling the stock market at home and abroad. According to market data tracker FnGuide, 17 robo-investing fu